Miles

MYLZ

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The name Miles means “soldier; also gracious.” It comes from the Latin language tradition.

Possibly from Latin 'miles' (soldier) or a Norman form of the Slavic name Milo (meaning gracious). It has long been a name of aristocratic and intellectual association in the English-speaking world.

The soldier meaning generally attached to Miles is folk etymology. The name descends from the Norman French Milo, whose origin Wiktionary calls problematic — possibly a short form of names beginning with mil-, meaning grace or favour. Latin miles, a soldier, was read into it later. Wikipedia adds a further possibility: a diminutive of Michael reshaped by that same Latin word, through Michael's association with soldiers.

The name reached England with the Normans and has been in use since. Because the two proposed derivations pull in opposite directions — grace on one side, a soldier on the other — the meaning a family intends depends entirely on which account they follow, and the martial reading is the later of the two.

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